USCCB Submits Comments on Proposed HHS Rulemaking,

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USCCB Submits Comments on Proposed HHS Rulemaking, Urges Re-Opening of Final Rule Defining Mandate, Exemption Home | Offices | Bookstore | Contact Us | Share | Subscribe Buscar / Search: Prayer and Worship Liturgical Calendar Prayers Blessings Devotionals Liturgical Resources Resources for the Eucharist Sacraments Roman Missal Beliefs and Teachings Who We Teach How We Teach What We Believe Dialogue With Others Vocations Issues and Action Get Involved Take Action Now Religious Liberty Faithful Citizenship Marriage and Family Cultural Diversity Human Life and Dignity Child and Youth Protection Media Audio Blogs and Columns Catholic News Service Media Relations Movie Reviews News Releases Video Bible Today's Reading Books of the Bible Understanding the Bible Approved Translations Liturgy Permissions Catholic Giving Opportunities for Giving Ways to Get Involved About USCCB Strategic Plan Priority Plan Leadership Bishops and Dioceses USCCB Offices Contact USCCB Financial Reporting USCCB Employment Print | Share | Calendar | Diocesan Locator Related Information Frequently Asked Questions About the Defense of Marriage Don Stenberg Attorney General of the State of Nebraska et al v Leroy Carhart MD Catholic Charities of Sacramento v Superior Court Letter to Brazilian Ambassador on Killing of Fr. Penido Burnier Cable to Cardinal Fresno on State of Siege Statement Before Inter American Commission on Human Rights USCCB Welcomes House Passage Of ‘No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act’ Religious Liberty Morality Word of Life Boy Scouts vs Dale USCCB Urges Rescission of HHS Contraceptive Mandate, Criticizes ‘Inexplicably Narrow’ Definition of Religious Freedom see all 12 pages Other News Releases: May 15, 2012 USCCB Joins Call To White House To Change Nuclear Policy, Delivers Petition With 50,000 Signatures May 14, 2012 Congolese Bishop Says Illegal Mining Causes Violence, Poverty, Urges Regulation In Congressional Testimony May 14, 2012 Asian And Pacific Catholics To Hold Marian Pilgrimage May 19 At National Shrine Audio Blogs and Columns Catholic News Service Media Relations Movie Reviews News Releases Video USCCB > Media > News Releases > USCCB Submits Comments on Proposed HHS Rulemaking, Urges Re-Opening of Final Rule Defining Mandate, Exemption May 15, 2012 Future 'accommodation' excludes
many, cannot meet incompatible goals Outstanding issues should be
resolved 'in favor of more, not less, religious freedom' WASHINGTON—Religious employers and
other stakeholders would still have their employee health insurance plans and premiums
used for services they find morally objectionable, even under future government
accommodations, according to comments submitted by the General Counsel of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS). The May 15 comments outlined the continued objections of
USCCB to the HHS "preventive services" mandate and urged the administration to
resolve these issues "in favor of more, not less, religious freedom." "We believe that
this mandate is unjust and unlawful – it is bad health policy, and because it
entails an element of government coercion against conscience, it creates a
religious freedom problem," wrote Anthony Picarello, USCCB associate general
secretary and general counsel, and Michael Moses, associate general counsel. "These moral and legal problems are
compounded by an extremely narrow exemption that intrusively and unlawfully
carves up the religious community into those that are deemed 'religious enough'
for an exemption, and those that are not." The comments were
submitted in response to an HHS Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)
on preventive services, which expressed the administration's intention to
propose additional regulations in order to establish alternative ways of
ensuring contraceptive coverage for employees enrolled in health plans of
religious organizations not exempted from the HHS mandate while still
"accommodating" such organizations. The USCCB comments
noted that such an accommodation would only apply to some religious
organizations and that it "would still leave their premiums or plans (or both)
as the source or conduit for the objectionable 'services.' But the use of
premiums and plans for that purpose is precisely what is morally objectionable,
and having an in.......